The Best Of Times, The Worst Of Times

Yes, these are good times for the Boston Red Sox, and very bad times for the New York Yankees. The Yankees were on the short end of the stick once again last night, this time at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox roared back to an 11-4 victory. And when I say roar, it was a roar with an assist from Yankee starter Andy Pettitte, who didn't make it out of the 5th inning, and the woeful Yankee bullpen. And woeful they were, with the ultimate indignity suffered by Mariano Rivera in the ninth. He was credited with 4 runs, and his ERA is above 12!
Daisuke Matsuzaka, who recorded the victory, had one bad inning. After throwing only 42 pitches in the first 3 scoreless innings, he needed 41 for the 4th inning alone. His control deserted him, and the Yankees turned a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead. That did not last long. The Sox came back with 3 in the 5th and 1 in the 6th, and never looked back from there. Daisuke threw a season high 117 pitches. The Boston 'pen took over from there, with Timlin, the Darkman, Hideki Okajima and Joel Piniero hurling scoreless frames. The batting heroes? Julio Lugo had 3 hits, Papi had a huge hit in the 5th, one of two of his base hits for the day. Coco and Manny also had multiple hit games. I do want to say that after last night's start, Daisuke's season, and the man himself, should settle down. This is something that the Remdog touched on last night. From his first start in a Boston uniform, to his first start at Fenway, to his first start at Yankee Stadium, well, you get my drift. It's been a whirlwind disguised as baseball for the man. Maybe a sense of normalcy will settle him down so that he can avoid the one meltdown inning each game, just like April 17 in Toronto and last night in the Bronx. He'll fine tune his mechanics and his nerves will slowly adapt to the circumstances. And when those things happen, watch out American League!
So where does this leave us? For me it's a place called Happyland, reserved for the times when the Sox are in first place. And it's a great place to visit. In fact, I hope I can stay all year. I can post on my blog from there, and generally just have a great time. You're welcome to visit whenever you wish. The doors are always open. I hope you will.
The Sox have a record of 15-7, the best in all of baseball. And today it's the rookie Karstens versus usual Yankee-baffler Timmy Wakefield. Go get 'em Timmy, and bats, stay alive. You'll have plenty of pitches to hit today. The nationally televised game on Fox begins at 3:30, coast to coast, all around this good land of ours. Have a great weekend everybody!

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The Jon Lester news was double good Friday. In his first Triple A start, he threw 5 shutout innings, with 56 of his 84 pitches strikes. And, more importantly, he received a clean bill of health from Mass General. Now that's the kind of news that makes me smile! We'll see you on or around May 6th, Jon. Wait until you hear the ovation your loving fans will give you, whether they be at Fenway, or home in their living rooms. RSN will be standing, waving, cheering and pouring out their love for you. That I promise.
I linked a Hartford Courant article on Daisuke's up, down and then up again Friday night. Just click on the title. Red Sox Forever. Everyday, everyway.